Hey Pete. Im sure you have the best intentions. But people in this thread including me want sidechaining in the box. Please stop making this thread about you and alternatives.

Just like you im also a dinosaur. I know the alternatives. But its 2018. Things evolve. We already made the point that it's industry standard and almost all the competition has this feature. Cost of software is cheap for a developer, you duplicate code almost for free in as much products as you want. You dont need costly outboard gear anymore. Sure often outboard gear sounds better but thats another discussion. It makes the process more efficient so you can put your energy into music making instead of the technical stuff. This principle goes for a lot of processes in the world. I often also dislike newer generations because of their lack of initiative, but I do acknowledge the progress in efficiency it sparks.

Btw personally I would be happy with a simple volume ducker effect like LFOtool.

Guys, hope all of you click that +1 button on the very top, in the question itself. Not sure Nick D is still around, but that "people have this question" counter looks too far low for the AKAI olymp to consider.

Seems like only 15 people are missing this feature, which I'm sure is more like 15 000 people :)

Adding a "Pump" effect (a la new Korg Electribe) would be a welcome interim solution. But it works assuming the sound you want to "duck" is a regular meter, and particularly on first quarter note. For "irregular" kick-ducking correlations, sidechain compression would need to be implemented properly.

Sure, thats true, but implementing sidechain in the device should not be that hard, unless their routing architecture did not take it into account. The point is that the MPC Live is touted as being a "Live" standalone machine and side-chain is something people expect these days, I mean it already has some nice compressor plugins, I don't see why it can't also provide side-chain input to them...

Pete we have different generation, in your 80's there was no internet, people were more ignorant. Now a lot people post good features idea to forum and all AKAI have to do is just kick their developers and make great soft that can be easily achieved and people can be happy forever. Why they dont want it?

Hey Pete. Im sure you have the best intentions. But people in this thread including me want sidechaining in the box. Please stop making this thread about you and alternatives.

Just like you im also a dinosaur. I know the alternatives. But its 2018. Things evolve. We already made the point that it's industry standard and almost all the competition has this feature. Cost of software is cheap for a developer, you duplicate code almost for free in as much products as you want. You dont need costly outboard gear anymore. Sure often outboard gear sounds better but thats another discussion. It makes the process more efficient so you can put your energy into music making instead of the technical stuff. This principle goes for a lot of processes in the world. I often also dislike newer generations because of their lack of initiative, but I do acknowledge the progress in efficiency it sparks.

Btw personally I would be happy with a simple volume ducker effect like LFOtool.

I never made this about me, I offered very obvious solutions to those whining about a feature that is not really hard to solve if you're willing to use your mind and apply yourself.

Pointing out that a microwaveed generation doesn't appear to have any application of creative thinking or that they use sidechaining as a crutch does not make one a dinosaur, it just says that their is no participation trophy in real life and sometimes you have to toughen up and solve a problem on your own instead of repeatedly crying and begging a corporation to solve it for you.

Those nasty compressors where in the racks of NYC's best studios like Power Play, INS, Unique, Quad, Brooklyn Sound Lab, and Hit Factory to name a few.

Let's be perfectly honest here, the majority of these kids just want sidechaining because it's a trend, not a necessity. They want to sound like Madlib, Teebs, Ras G, Samiyam, Dibia$e and Flying Lotus instead of themselves so in order to copycat the next man they need a feature that in the long run will only handicap them in their musical life.

Look no one else feels the need to humble brag about their experience in making music... You took it to that place.

It seems you can't handle someone saying that the cheap ass compressors you are recommending are cheap ass..

They are a bit nasty...
I agree with you tho, a cheap compressor will do the trick.
I was calling those compressors nasty to point out that even a cheap compressor has a sidechain input.

And to address those studios having those specific compressors,
As you'll be aware, Any great studio will have some shitty compressors in the rack, they don't tend to get used unless you are tracking drums and bass etc and all the good compressors are being used.

First of all kid, no one was bragging. I used myself and my experience as an example. You took upon yourself to get all sensitive and misinterpret it as bragging because you're feeling hyper emotional about what I honestly stated about today's lazy generation not having any sense of creative thinking.

Those compressors weren't used because they were considered to be shitty, they were used because they were transparent and didn't color the sound like tube compressors did which is what we wanted sometimes. Multimillion dollar studios didn't have shitty gear in their racks. That does not make business sense.

Perhaps you could stand to toughen up a bit and learn how to handle objective criticism about your super soft lazy generation and it's overall crybaby attitude about life.

Looks like Pete just wanted to point out how smart and resourceful he is, knowing his way around limitations from back in the day when the interwebs was only for privileged people :) You're a rockstar, Pete!

Having the net and the overall progress of humanity at our disposal, we new-age kids expect a DAW to behave accordingly. I.e. have some basic features that would allow us to work exclusively within the provided ecosystem, especially when it's a standalone device we're using.

It's the famous quickness of the MPC workflow that I don't want to compromise by adding external gear or just using the Live as a controller within another "sophisticated DAW".

As of now, the "heavyweight production hub" which is how AKAI promotes the MPC Software bundled with MPC Live, is nowhere near its major competitors. And this is what this thread is supposed to partially fix. We might also just become happier, more loyal customers if AKAI catches up on some standard features in their premium-priced gear.

Pete, thank you for the laser-focused overgeneralised assumption on the participants of this thread, where can we acquire such wisdom? Can you post another youtube link please, you tough lil OG you? ))

Funny you're using the X, being such a titan of the old-school ethics. Why use new stuff made for lazy kids who want shortcuts?

Wait, it's not related to the topic of this thread, so: move on with your blessed life, let the kids moan for the features you _will_ buy next time there's a new toy to grab from AKAI.

Continue on with your __ism, this old man is wasting no more time on trying to help you infantile fools..."

I think you are angry because you've been making music for 30 odd years and you dont have as much to show for it as you'd like, and you are taking that out on the kids... its fucken embarrassing dude.

I'm not as old as you, im 37 years old, having toured the usa and europe for around 10 years i know the desire to have a portable production machine with all the bells and whistles. (and in this day in age, i dont want my email notifications to be popping up while im making music)

You keep ignoring the fact that even the cheap compressors have sidechaining and instead throwing insults and then saying "you kids cant handle criticism"
its not criticism, you dont know anything about the people on this site.

Its the same as if the eq didn't have a q adjustment, its a feature you expect, and if these machines didn't have it we'd ask for it.

The forum seems to drift into an unproductive complaintainment of all sorts. The
side chain thread is a good/bad example for it. Why not coming up with any idea,
instead of simply posting nothing productive. We didn't purchase the MPC-X and
come here to read about complains. But maybe we're just holding it wrong :-?)))

How the hell do I get out of this thread. We just want side chain. Don’t need hear about what gen sucks or is better. We need to work together to send Numark a message. Please sell Akai back to the Japanese! They put arpeggiator on mpc 5000 but with modern technology can’t even do on a live. So I’m pretty sure Akai is gonna make live users use the mpc software to get what we need. My shit is on eBay cuz I can’t take this forum or the 2 year wait on reply about sidechain.

Why would they do this update and not wait for, lets say christmas, for an update with new features. My guts are saying more and more that there will not be any update with new features for the Live and X.

I mean the big 2.3 will be in both a software update and firmware update. I didn't mean sidechain specifically. A firmware only update will just be small fixes like this one. Pete posted a photo on Instagram of him filming a new video for Akai. So hopefully the release is soon.

@Jesse Skeens A firmware isn’t only fixes it’s also implementing stuff..In our case 2.2.3 was only fixes but that doesn’t mean 2.3 firmware will have the same impact.I personally don’t care about MPC software only for standalone operation cause i bought it to get away from computers..If AKAI gives us the opportunity to mix/master our tracks inside Live (sidechain comp,parallel comp,HQ Reverb etc.) and totally ditch the computer then it would be a true standalone machine.
@Nikolai Sokolov Yes AKAI fixed the boot time on the latest update..

when i look what akai is doing im so fckin dissapointed, i bought this machine so happy and believed that it will only grow and its very good investment because it have huge potential for future that other machines doesnt have (like octatrack, korg drum machines etc) but after a while i see its f*cking joke what akai is doing with it. if they dont do now super extra huge update in next 1 month i will consider selling this shit and say to everyone to dont ever again buy anything from akai, other companies bring everytime super extra fascinating updates and develop their products in a huge way even if it is parametrically inferior to mpc live, do workflow improvements, new features. you live with that product every month, every day because it alwayssurprises with something new, and mpc live? lets do great machine, do some shit updates and do more machines to get $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ from people and even if you ask if they even plan any update all you get is that ctrl c ctrl v answers from Nick, i dont have informations about this blablablablablabla, damn

Hey B, see you got angry this time ) this helps me unwind, maybe it helps you as well:

1. It's an incredible and deep machine, period. One can think of the limitations as "quirky features". which is how teenage engineering gets away with selling very limited, but superfun products.

2. dunno about you, but I don't need anything else to get a full track ready. Apart from logic for sidechain compression and visual EQs (hi Pete! :) And some synths every now and then.

3. it has 0-latency in standalone which is amazing. no matter how many effects and tracks and programs I jam into this thing, I never get latency.

4. build quality is superior. I take that LIVE seriously and the MPC spends a lot of time on the road. I abuse this device. Nature happens to it. My kids happen to it. Physical stress. Phone jack gets pulled a lot. Everything works perfectly so far.

AKAI is a big ass company, with loads of products and legacy stuff to take care of. The dev team must be steaming 24-7, with priorities all over the place.

The general roadmap is surely similar to that of NI — release software updates over time, covering old equipment as well. It's just other big DAWs are on version 10, hense it feels like AKAI is soooo far behind.

And you are right: others do deliver frequent updates, but then again, their core product is the software, while AKAIs core product is the hardware unit and its uncompromising performance. Which they do deliver hands down.

Let's embrace this brick for a moment and make some cool music with it while AKAI dev ops come up with a latency-free sidechaining solution :)

..we guess NI is maybe doing something better (in the back) than releasing (just)
another Mikro of their Machines and some cheaper usb keyboards. Akai seems
to be in good position with the standalone concept, but better shouldn't rest on it.

totally agree with Nikolai, MPC Live helped with what I needed most which is staying away from the PC. I export my wav files to the PC from the MPC with a USB or an SD card and import that to the DAW (Ableton) and then I fix arrangement, transitions, sidechain, EQs, mixing/mastering... the technical part. I stopped using Push 2 because of pad sensitivity, location of the knobs and latency... That's right... nothing like zero latency for recording perfect hi hats without quantization.

Looks like WW3 is gonna breakout if sidechaining isn't included in 2.3 I see people arguing all over Facebook, the gram, twitter, and in forums over this feature and making threats to boycott Akai Pro. Why are so many so obsessed with a cheap parlor trick like Sidechaining??? Is it because of all these SP303/SP404 beatmakers who use it as a crutch for their beats? What happened to taking pride in having your own sound? It's like everyone wants to sound like everyone else instead of having your own musical identity. I just find it very sad.

You are right, a lot of people make cookie cutter bullshit and use the sidechain as a crutch.
But if we are realistic these people are akai's audience.
When you boot up the mpc it gives you options of what genre you want to make, it gives you pre made loops, and a whole bunch of other shit no serious producer would use (and would delete if it was possible).
Yet the most common effect on the genres they have listed isn't available.

True, a serious producer would use a better compressor anyway, but, the mpc live is an all in one box, designed for being your one stop music making device.

I'd like sidechaining.
Not for ripping other people's techniques, but for being creative.

Yeah, it sounds a bit too bitter, Pete. Everyone uses filters and LFOs and reverbs and factory sounds, but it doesn't make all music sound the same or cookie-cuttery, does it? The argument of having no musical individuality because of an additional effect is a tad far off.

There won't be no "Sidechain Civil War" — some will cry for a minute, that's it. Whoever gives up on MPC because of that one feature is probs better off with another machine anyway, so all good and fair and sunny.

It's like (more or less) secretly criticising your spouse for one weird little fault — you won't leave that person because of that as you love 200% of it. But it would be soooo great if this and that, ya know? and sometimes spouses "upgrade" themselves and become even better and you're like wow, I couldn't wish for more... except for the naggy other things. And so it goes in circles. Feeling grateful is zen, but wanting and demanding is just human and at heart of progress.

Please do know I'm just f*ckn with you and salute you for having such a strong opinion on this issue :)

I think its just helpful man, I guess we all want our kicks to break through the mix loud and clear. I don't want to worry about that when chopping samples... it is limiting my options and I waste too much time chopping, trying to mask all transients with the attack/release settings and LFOs. I want to be free lol

Sidechain is another affect like any else. I could automate and resample the same thing over and over just to make a Deley affect - or i could just put delay on that intrument/ vocal. That's how progress works. Look at that last DaftPunk album. They didnt use only tube/ analog stuff. They used both, and to great affect imho. For most middle lower class kids and young people the MPC live is still out of reach but once this kid saves up the money and gets the MPC hes still going to be behind the powercurve, because honestly we all know that there is more than just an MPC on our desk in our music room. Im fighting to get myself sidechaining but im also thinking about the "kids". The point is that instead of buying a whole recording studio a guy like Dilla can make the MPC his recording studio. As far as i was aware, thats what the consumer wanted: a true stand-alone, take anywhere, Music. Production. Center.

Using the «Compressor Master» (Internal Akai Effects) as Channel or Keygroup
Insert effect, does a fine job limiting at least. When we hit our brass patches hard
(chord hard) and max out the levels to put effects on top of it, they hardly break
above ..which provides much room for all kind of mixing. Limit all, kick the bass.

No trickery, we use negative values of -4 on the Compressor «Output» settings
in the first Insert slots of instrument channels to create clean undistorted sounds.
Using this option on mixed channels+adding effects might do some true damage.

Just saying and providing infos to use the Internal Effects Compressor as Limiter.

Very interesting, I never considered negative values for any Compressor, specially the Master one. I mainly use it on the Master Channel. It limits all large transients (kicks/snares) and helps everything get louder. Obviously, I have to increase Output values (+3 or +4 usually).

I also use it for samples with lots of mid/high information. I turn on the "Old School" effect and set the threshold very low, im trying to kill all the transients because I want space for my own drum samples.

Hi. Yes, the settings on all Akai Compressors go from negative value -6 to +24.
Useful for nailing things down/making space for others. It works good on multi
key'ed brass and leads, which break-out easily. It does loose a bit of dynamic
plus changes the character of the original sound.

That's what the manual says about using the Internal Akai Effects compressors:

Compressor Master
This is the most transparent compressor, able to perform substantial volume adjustments without artifacts.

Compressor Opto
The Opto Compressor is modeled after a vintage compressor type using an optical circuit to control the volume reduction of the input signal. These compressors are usually associated with soft and unobtrusive attack and release characteristics.

Compressor VCA
This compressor is more modern-sounding, with a slightly more transparent sound. A VCA Compressor tends to have quicker attack and release times than an Opto Compressor.

Compressor Vintage
This compressor has a sound similar to classic tube compressors, with their gentle yet pumping response and a dash of tube saturation.

We use the «Compressor Master» in the master section, since it isn't colouring
the sound. The «Compressor VCA» might be a good choice for channel comps.
The «Compressor Vintage» ads flavour but is slow from what we know. It is all about the sound you're after. The «Compressor Master» is best for overall usage.

..now (update 2.3) you have presets on the effects, so things are more easy to
change for the workflow. Setting up a limiting preset yourself is possible. That's
it for us around this chain thread, we disengage :-)

@Pete, nah, I just genuinely enjoy trolling you! really, really like this autosampler thing too. Even some old AiR synths in standalone is just sweet imo. Great for quickly trying things. Maybe because I'm a bloody amateur and make beats for fun, I dunno.

I'm so happy AKAI listened to us!
You see, like some of you said, all we had to do is wait, they were working really hard!
I'm sure the help of AKAI's own employees like Nick D made a difference, the countless times he said to file a feature request really payed off!
Surely a lot of AKAI employees were following this forum all the time and were making notes of the users wishes.
Not like the other big companies that only think about money and implement things that are easy or already used elsewhere
This really shows that AKAI focuses its attention on its users to make the product what the users want it to be.

Are you asleep? this was totally a marketing pull, as the Deluge and other grooveboxes with synths were getting more sales. I'm happy for the arpeggiator, but the Midi Multi-timbrality should be a must, and so should "disk streaming" for the live set purposes of the Mpc LIVE/X. Also side-chaining is an important request, that didn't get a chance.